Umpire ejects Phillies catcher JT Realmuto for a ridiculous reason

The 2023 MLB regular season has not yet begun, but umpire Randy Rosenberg appears to be in midseason form. On Monday, during the Phillies-Blue Jays spring training game, Rosenberg ejected catcher JT Realmuto. You probably assume Realmuto said or did something he probably should not have and got ejected for something that was at least subjectively reasonable.

You would appear to be wrong.

The video of the ejection shows Realmuto hold his glove back for a new ball from the umpire. As Rosenberg goes to hand him the ball, Realmuto pulls his glove back and the ball goes to the ground. Rosenberg immediately ejects him amidst wide-spread confusion.

The announcers are confused as well and try to offer some context to the situation. They note that on the prior exchange, the umpire threw the ball out to Craig Kimbrel on the mound. That would suggest Realmuto figured that would happen again and so he pulled his glove back.

It’s worth noting that the announcers said Kimbrel was not happy about the prior call and seemed to voice it for the umpire to see or hear. We don’t see that in the clip, so we’re left without that bit of context. Realmuto flipped his glove when he pulled it away, so there’s always the chance he was pranking the umpire. But it’s also possible the umpire just had it in his mind he was being fooled when he wasn’t and showed a lack of patience. Whatever the case, it’s one of the more ridiculous ejections we’ve seen in recent memory.